U.S. Jews Observe Rosh Hashanah Tonight with Appeals for Aid in 1,800 Synagogues

The attention of American Jews was drawn today to the needs of Jews abroad and to the situation in Israel in messages issued by leaders of various Jewish organizations on the occasion of Rosh Hashanah which will be ushered in tomorrow night, marking the year 5710 in the Hebrew calendar.

An appeal for immediate contributions to meet the critical lack of funds of the United Jewish Appeal will be made tomorrow evening at Rosh Hashanah services in 1,800 synagogues throughout the country. Rabbis in Orthodox, Conservative and Reform congregations will urge worshippers to make good their pledges to the U.J.A. in order to forestall additional hardship for hundreds of thousands of Jews in Europe, North Africa and Israel.

More than 1,150 displaced Jews will observe their first Rosh Hashanah in the United States with traditional services which will begin tomorrow evening at the Hotel Marseilles here, which is maintained by the United Service for New Americans as a temporary reception center for displaced Jews arriving in this country. About 1,000 Jewish DP immigrants will observe the holiday at the HIAS shelter here.

Edward M.M. Warburg, chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee, said today in a Rosh Hashanah message that Jews overseas are about to celebrate the happiest New Year they have known in more than a decade. “In the Jewish camps of Germany, Austria and Italy, the DP’s rejoice in the knowledge that for the overwhelming majority this will be their last Rosh Hashanah as homeless wanderers,” he said. He reported that J.D.C. Rosh Hashanah aid in the form of special food allowances went to 376,000 Jews abroad.

Louis Lipsky, chairman of the American Zionist Council, called upon President Truman in his New Year’s message to repudiate the plan for internationalization of Jerusalem which he labeled as a “shocking desecration and injustice.” Rabbi Irving Miller, chairman of the executive committee of the American Jewish Congress, warned in a Rosh Hashanah statement that the U.N. Conciliation Commission’s recommendations that Jerusalem be internationalized would “place the Holy City in new and dreadful jeopardy.”

JEWISH ACHIEVEMENTS FOR YEAR SUMMARIZED BY LEADERS OF MAJOR ORGANIZATIONS

Daniel Frisch, president of the Zionist Organization of America, in his New Year’s message emphasized that Israel “turns once again to American Jewry for more than political aid in the battle against the sinister and powerful forces that would wreck the new state.” He added that Israel also needs economic aid “to help it absorb the tide of immigration that is still to come.” He expressed the belief that American Jewry will answer Israel’s call “promptly and faithfully.”

Jacob Blaustein, president of the American Jewish Committee, stressed in his message that Jews throughout the world “can look back on a year of vast and continued accomplishment.” He pointed out that Israel is today a recognized member of the world family of nations and that the DP camps have been virtually emptied. He also emphasized the fact that organized anti-Semitism in the United States has reached a low ebb during the past year and that much has been accomplished in the fight against racial and religious discrimination and segregation.

Dr. Nahum Goldmann, acting president of the World Jewish Congress, in reviewing the status of Jewish communities throughout the world on the eve of the Jewish New Year, stated that the establishment of Israel and the resettlement of virtually all DP camp inhabitants are among the positive achievements of the concluding year. “The disturbing side of the picture,” he said, “includes a revival of Naziem in Germany and Austria, the continued perilous situation of 500,000 Jews in Moslem lands, socioeconomic practices affecting many of the 600,000 Jews in Latin America and the growing barriers to contact between Western Jewry and the more than 2.500,000 Jews in the Soviet Union and the Soviet orbit countries.”